Rule 10
by Miss. E. Thompson
Summary: People have many questions about Gibbs, but none more than Tony. One day answers come walking through Gibbs' front door.


A lot of people have a lot of questions about Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Where did his rules come from? How does he get those boats out of his basement? How does he always manage to sneak up behind a person talking about him? Why are all of his wives red heads? Lots of questions and not many answers, just the way that Gibbs likes it.

There is one question that every one that had ever been to his home asks, even the uninvited guests: Why doesn't Gibbs lock his doors?

Many had asked and many had been brushed off with half serious, half sarcastic answers. It was a question that Tony himself had asked many times and had given up getting a real answer to till they strolled through the door one day while Ziva and Tony were holed up at Gibbs' house with Mike Franks, his daughter-in-law and his granddaughter.

Tony and Ziva had just gotten inside the house and Mike had tucked his gun away when the group heard the rumble of an old car pull up out front. Mike turned to Leyla and motioned for her to take Amira back out of the room as he pulled his gun back out. Tony and Ziva both took their guns out as well as they positioned themselves in front of the door. The three stood stiffly as they listened to the squeak and slam of car doors, they tensed more as they heard the voices of two men getting louder as they walked closer to the house. The door popped open and Mike cocked his gun making the man freeze in the doorway.

Tony grabbed the door and pulled it the rest of the way open to reveal two men frozen in the doorway, the second holding a box of pizza and a pack of beer. The men looked surprised and tense as they scanned the group pointing guns at them. That is till the shorter man looked to Mike and grinned.

"Hey Mike, how you doing? Long time no see, how's Mexico?" Mike sighed and lowered his gun as he uncocked it.

"God damn it, boys. Didn't your daddy teach you how to knock?" Franks grumbled. Tony and Ziva warily lowered their weapons as Mike seemed to know the two men. The shorter one with the military hair cut grinned cheekily at Mike.

"Nope, but he taught us how to pick one." He shot back as he moved farther into the house so the other man could come inside and close the door behind him.

"Didn't know Gibbs was having a party, would have brought more pizza." The lead guy joked.

"Who the hell are you?" Tony asked as he put his gun back in it's holster. The man turned his attention to Tony, smile never leaving his face.

"I'm Dean, this is my brother Sam. Who are you?" Dean asked as Sam rolled his eyes and moved past the group to put down the pizza and beers on Gibbs' end table.

"They work for Gibbs. Agents Ziva David and Tony DiNozzo." Mike said before Tony could get snappy. Ziva didn't seem to mind while Tony shot Mike a glare.

"Leyla, you can come out!" Mike called. A moment later Leyla emerged from the hallway with Amira in her arms.

"Mike, you sly dog." Dean drawled as he noticed Leyla. Sam punched Dean in the arm with a glare while Mike shot Dean a dirty look. Ziva and Tony seemed amused though.

"Leyla's my daughter-in-law and the little girl in her arms is my granddaughter, Amira." Mike said gruffly. Dean gave Mike a nod and gave a small wave to the girls who were moving back over to the couch.

"Didn't realize you had any kids, Mike." Sam said as he glanced at the young woman and the little girl.

"It's complicated. Leyla and Amira have been living with me since my son's passing." Sam immediately looked apologetic.

"Sorry for your loss." Sam said softly. Mike gave a soft grunt and a nod.

"Well if you two are here, your daddy can't be too far behind. When's he coming?" Franks asked and the boys shared a look.

"Mike, dad's dead. Has been for a while." Dean said softly, the pain in his voice less obvious to the two agents then it was to Franks. Mike sighed.

"What happened?" He asked, this time Sam spoke up.

"Officially, it was a heart attack."

"Unofficially?"

"His demons got him." Sam answered cryptically. Franks nodded with another sigh and turned his attention back to the two agents.

"So Gibbs sent you?" Franks asked already knowing the answer.

"We have been instructed to sit on the baby." Ziva said with a nod and walked toward Leyla and Amira. Dean and Sam both looked confused and a little worried.

"What?" Dean spluttered. Tony sighed.

"Babysit. We were sent to babysit." Tony explained and both boys looked less concerned.

"Everything's going to be fine." Tony said turning his attention back to Franks.

"Got marching orders for you, too. McGee is waiting outside to drive you back to NCIS."

"You're leaving?" Leyla asks from the couch.

"You heard the man. Everything's going to be fine. This is for the best." Franks comforts as he walks over and kisses Leyla on the forehead. Franks makes eye contact with Ziva over the top of Leyla's head and she nods. Mike walks back toward the door and stops in front of the boys.

"Found myself in a little trouble, but I'm sure I'll see the two of you later." Franks says and claps both boys on the shoulder as they nod and walks back over to Tony.

"Why don't you put something in front of the door?" He suggests as Tony pops a mint in his mouth. Tony looks at Franks with a look of disbelief.

"No, I'll just stand here with my gun." Tony snarks. Franks closes his eyes and sighs before heading out the door. Tony turns his attention to the two men now standing awkwardly between the door and the three women in the living room.

"So, you do you two know Gibbs?" Tony asks as he swings off his backpack and moves to put in against the wall. The boys share a look, unsure how much Tony might know about Gibbs and what story would be safe enough to share.

"Gibbs knew our dad briefly while they were in the marines. Dad was one of his superiors for a short while before dad left the service to settle down. They met again after our mom died, dad went a little..." Dean didn't know what to call his father's behavior after their mother's death.

"Crazy." Sam inputted, earning himself a glare from Dean but ignoring it.

"Dad had some issues and well he just took off with Sam and I and a friend of dad's was a little concerned. He called the cops and they couldn't find him so they called NCIS because of dad's service. Gibbs and Franks managed to track dad down after a couple months. They helped dad find his way through the grief enough to function. It was more out of pity then anything else, but Gibbs offered that his door would always be open. It was a couple years later that dad got caught in a tight spot and dumped Sam and I off here, knowing we'd be safe. It kinda became a thing, if dad was in the area, he'd bring us here to hang out till it was time to move on again and Gibbs always kept his word, the door's always been open." Dean explained and Tony was amazed. Sam and Dean were a little misty eyed and quickly looked away from Tony and each other.

"So you're the reason there's no lock on the door?" Tony asked and the brothers shrugged.

"Maybe. The only time I remember the door being locked was the first night we came here and of course that one time we stopped by when Kelly was about three." Dean said with another shrug. Tony could only shake his head, that sounded like Gibbs. Make a promise that the door will always be open and leave the door unlocked for twenty years to make sure that the promise would be kept. Dean cleared his throat.

"So the pizza's pepperoni, everyone okay with that or do I need to order another pizza?" Dean asked and scanned the room. Heads nodded but no one went for the box. Dean shrugged and walked up to the box and pulled out a piece before collapses into the available arm chair. Sam and Tony watched Dean as he took his first big bite of his slice of pizza. Dean looked up while he chewed.

"Might as well get comfy, sounds like it's going to be a long day." Dean said and Sam shook his head but moved over to take a seat.

The pizza had been put away and Sam and Dean had gone out to get their bags from the car and put them in the other spare room. There isn't room for both of them on the bed, but it wasn't like it was going to be the first or last time that Dean had slept on the couch. While the boys were out at the car, they took the opportunity to grabs a couple extra things from the trunk. Franks was retired, had been for a while and if he was going into NCIS it meant he was in deep shit and if he'd brought his granddaughter and daughter-in-law all the way from Mexico to hide at Gibbs' house then they were in danger. Neither Dean or Sam wanted to be caught without something to protect themselves with. They were both well aware that Tony and Ziva were both federal agents who were plenty capable of protecting themselves, but Dean wasn't going to trust all their lives on two people he'd met while being held at gun point.

When they walked back into the room only Ziva was there with little Amira. Amira was playing with toys on the floor and Ziva was sitting next to her. Ziva could hear the boys walking back into the room, their loud boots not exactly hiding their location as they walked heavily across the wooden floor.

"You have very peaceful eyes, Amira." Ziva said to the little girl as she bopped her on the nose. Amira smiled and gave a gurgling laugh.

"Do you know that?" Ziva asked as the boys moved to the kitchen, passing Leyla in the archway. There was only maybe ten feet between the kitchen table and the living room, but it gave Ziva and Leyla the illusion of privacy even though the boys could still hear everything they were talking about. They even knew that Tony was on the phone in the basement. They could make out his muffled voice through the floor, they couldn't make out what he was saying, but they knew he was on the phone due to the pauses and changes in tones as he answered and asked questions.

"Yes, she does. I left Iraq because I didn't want to expose her to the violence I saw as a child. I want that peace to last in her eyes forever." Dean wanted to flinch. He knew that feeling, it's what he had been doing for the first eight years of Sam's life and even then he fought to keep Sam as innocent as possible despite the life they'd lived. Of course that all blew up the second that ol' yellow eyes had waltzed back into their lives and killed Jess.

"You made difficult choices for both of you." Ziva seemed to comfort.

"Sometimes the most significant moments happen in your life without any choice at all." Leyla said before her voice changed, speaking softer.

"Like your father." Leyla cooed to the little girl at her feet before looking back to Ziva.

"I knew the cost of even talking to Liam, but I couldn't help it. The feeling was irresistible." She spoke conspiratorially. Dean smirked as he raised a beer to his lips. Both women were ignoring their presence to have 'girl talk'. Dean found it amusing, it was something he usually heard when they went to a bar, 'girl talk' was usually highly amusing in how much women would reveal to each other, the gossip, the scandal, sometimes aiding in a case without even realizing what they were doing or that anybody was listening.

"It was love at first sight." Ziva stated and both guys rolled their eyes.

"Maybe." Leyla mused with a chuckle. Sam and Dean could hear Tony walking up the stairs and Ziva must have as well as she changed topic.

"Do you miss your homeland?" Ziva asked, making the conversation serious once again.

"It was difficult to leave it all behind. But the right reasons made it easier." Leyla stated and their seemed to be a measure of comforting in the tone she used.

"Ziva's trying to pick up and start over again. Rebuild... again." Tony interrupted the conversation and took a seat in one of the chair that Dean had vacated earlier. Sam noticed that the man seemed to have an edge to the way he said it, like he was irritated about something.

"Yes." Ziva said as she got up from the floor and moved to stand by the window.

"What's your place like in Mexico?" Tony asked Leyla as she picked the little girl up off the floor and pulled her into her lap.

"It is simple. Just enough room for the three of us." Leyla replied, but all the friendliness that had been there during her conversation with Ziva was gone, she almost sounded suspicious of the question. 

"Were you inside when the...when it started?" Tony asked. Sam and Dean made sure to remain still and quiet, it was as if everyone had forgotten about the other two men in the house. Tony must have gotten some information while he was on the phone because his questions were anything but innocent, it sounded more like the start of an interrogation.

"Yes." She replied and now she sounded guarded. She was uncomfortable with the topic, Sam could see that in the way she held herself like she was getting ready to run and was holding Amira as close as possible, like someone might take her away.

"What did you do?" Tony asked.

"I did what any mother would do. I ran to my daughter." She defended.

"Where was she?" Tony asked and Leyla ducked head into her daughter's hair.

"Leyla, where was Amira?" Tony asked again with a little more force.

"She was with Mike. Outside." Leyla's voice was choked.

"What really happened, Leyla?" Ziva asked.

"Amira wanted to paint her name on the side of the boat. I was inside watching them when I saw two men walking toward them down the beach. They were pulling guns. Mike always keeps a rifle hanging above the door loaded. He taught me to shot in case something happened to him. Those men were pointing guns at my baby and I shot them." Leyla was crying now, her words becoming harder to understand. Sam turned his head to look at Dean who was frozen in a mild look of horror. Sam looked back over to see Leyla hugging her daughter to her chest and sobbing into the little girl's hair.

Tony left the room again to make another phone call while Ziva moved to comfort Leyla. Dean got up from the table and followed Tony. Tony walked back down to the basement and Dean could hear him talking, giving someone the run down on what was going on. Dean waited on the stairs till Tony finished his call. Tony turned around to walk back up stairs and jumped when he turned around and spotted Dean standing half way down the stairs behind him.

"How'd you do that? Gibbs teach you?" Tony asked startled. Dean's eye brows pulled together in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" Dean asked.

"How long have you been standing there?" Tony demanded.

"The whole time." Tony balked. He'd been standing there the whole time? 

"How the hell… never mind, why'd you follow me?" Tony asked.

"Because we need to talk." Dean said and walked down the rest of the stairs with loud, heavy foot falls.

"What's going on?" Dean demanded and Tony quirked an eyebrow.

"Why should I tell you?" Tony replied, shoving his hands into his pockets as he studied Dean's face. Dean crossed his arms, an irritated expression in place.

"Because my and brother and I were just in the kitchen. We heard everything she just said. Now with that, guys with guns have come after Leyla and her daughter once, is it going to happen again? Should my brother and I be getting out our guns and setting up shop in front of the doors? Are there going to be more guys with guns coming after those girls upstairs? If so, four guns have a lot better odds than just two."

"I don't know. Gibbs and the rest of the team are working on who's after Leyla and Amira. When they figure it out they'll let us know, but till then Ziva and I are tasked with watching over Leyla and Amira. What I do know is that the men that came after them at Mike's are part of a known organization that have been a pain in NCIS's ass for a while now. I'm more than sure this isn't over." Dean sighed.

"I guess that's as close to a yes as I'm going to get." Dean turned and went upstairs, making sure to produce noise with boots heavily hitting the floor with every step. Tony glared before heading upstairs behind Dean.

"Sammy!" Dean called and Sam popped around the corner. Behind him Leyla had calmed down some, allowing Amira to slip out of her arms and back onto the floor to play with her toys while Ziva sat on the couch next to her. Dean nodded his head toward the back hallway and Sam's curious expression dropped as he immediately fell into step as Dean started down the hall way in what looked to Tony like a well practiced move. There wasn't a second of hesitation, no twitch of the mouth to indicate wanting to ask a question, Sam didn't even think before moving to follow his brother and that amazed Tony. Even as much as Tony, McGee and Ziva in most cases trusted Gibbs to lead them, they still hesitated and ask questions on reflex.

Tony was puzzled by the brothers, they had seemed completely normal up until that moment, now they seemed like trained professionals. Even the navy and marine officers that they investigated, who were trained to follow orders without a thought and to charge into situations without a moment of hesitation still had a split second of hesitance before jumping into action. It made Tony wonder about the lives of the two men, made him wonder what kind of relationship the two had that they didn't even have a natural moment of hesitation before following the others lead. Tony shook it off for the time being and joined the women back in the living room.

Sam followed Dean into the spare bedroom that they'd stashed their bags in earlier. Sam waited till Dean shut the door before asking his question.

"What's going on?" Dean headed for his bag.

"Tony said that the men that attacked Leyla and Amira were hired professionals. At the moment no one's sure who's calling the shots or if they'll try again, but I'm not taking any chances." Dean set his bag on the bed and began pulling out the weapons that he'd stashed in his bag. Knives for his boots and an extra gun, a gun to tuck in his waist band and an additional knife for his jeans pocket. He checked that both guns were loaded before securing them, knowing that whatever was attacking Leyla and Amira was human and not worrying about what kind of ammo the guns were loaded with. With Dean's quick explanation Sam had started pulling out his weapons from his own bag and repeating the actions that Dean had just taken. Before zipping his bag Dean pulled out two more things from his bag: his back up-back up gun and a butterfly knife. Dean headed back out before Sam was finished securing his gun.

Tony and Ziva looked up as they heard Dean come back down the hallway. Ziva almost did a double take as Dean came to a stop in the entry way. Gone was the joking, smiling man that they had met earlier that day and in his place was a soldier preparing for war. Ziva mentally knew that no one had said anything about Sam or Dean being military but from looking at him now she would swear it. The way he held himself and the expression on his face was the same as she has seen on many soldiers during the course of her time at NCIS and even back when she had been part of Mossad, he was a man on a mission and the vibe was making her edgy.

Dean didn't spare a look to Tony and Ziva, but headed straight for Leyla. Leyla looked startled as she looked up from her daughter playing on the floor to see Dean standing in front of her with a stone expression. He held up a silver object for her to see.

"Swing it like this." He said gruffly and demonstrated. Leyla flinched as the silver square looking object transformed into a knife before her eyes. Dean flicked his wrist again and hid the blade before holding it out to her.

"Keep this on you at all times. This will be your last line of defense." Dean said and Leyla nodded as she swallowed hard. Her hand was shaking as she reached up and took the knife from Dean and stowed it.

"Come with me. I'm gonna show you something." Dean said and started back the way he came. Leyla hesitates and begins to reach for Amira, but Dean stops her.

"This will only take a second, Tony and Ziva can keep an eye on her." She hesitates a second longer but follows. Tony and Ziva both itch to follow as well, but both hesitate. Tony takes a step, but stops himself when he looks at Amira and then Ziva. Ziva catches his gaze and nods her head after Dean and Leyla. Tony nods and quietly moves to follow the two, staying at the top of the stairs to eaves drop as he see Dean taking Leyla down into the basement. At the foot of the stairs Dean pulls out his back -back up gun.

"If something happens, you grab Amira and bring her down here. I'm leaving this here." Dean set the gun on the edge of a lower step.

"You grab it and hide over here." Dean leads Leyla over to the far corner of the basement and pulling a pile of boxes over a little revealing a hatch. Leyla's eyebrows raise as she looks to Dean.

"Lift this and crawl inside, it will get you to the back yard." Dean explains softly.

"How did you know about this?" Leyla whispers. Dean shrugs.

"Sam and I were nosy kids and we were left unsupervised a lot. You'd be amazed the things I know about this house."

"You spent a lot of time here?" Leyla asks and Dean shrugs again.

"Sam and I grew up without a home. Our dad raised us out of the car, moving from one motel to the next. Gibbs is one of the few people that my dad trusted, so if we were in the area dad would leave us with Gibbs and he would make sure we were taken care of while we were here." Leyla didn't know what to say to that and Dean didn't give her a chance before he was leading her back up the stairs. Dean wasn't surprised to catch Tony just turning the corner as he came through the door. He hadn't expected the agents to trust him, especially since he didn't trust them. Dean had no doubt that Gibbs would only have good people working for him, but that didn't mean that he was going to take anything about them at face value.

Sam had come back out of the bedroom and was standing in the entry way waiting for them when Dean came around the corner.

"What's the game plan?" Sam asked. Leyla ducked past the boys and back to her daughter.

"Hard to say. Too many unknowns, we're just going to have to be ready for anything." Dean said with a shrug.

"Well who ever comes is not going to be expecting the two of you." Tony points out and Dean nods.

"True. So Sam and I will stay out of the room. However this is has probably done their research and knew Franks would come running to Gibbs, but they definitely wouldn't have known about Sam and I. We've always made sure to stay off the radar as much as possible. We'll stay out of the room as much as possible, use our unscheduled visit to our advantage and hopefully catch them by surprise. Tony and Ziva nodded.

It was hours later when Ziva's phone rang.

"Got it, Gibbs." Ziva said as she snapped her phone shut and moved to pull the blind on the front door.

"Trouble brewing?" Tony asked and Ziva nodded.

"Incoming!" Tony called out to alert the brothers.

"Where's Amira?" Ziva asked Leyla.

"She's upstairs, sleeping."

"All right. Take her downstairs." Leyla nodded and ran from the room. It was less than a minute later when the lights went out and glass could be heard shattering.

"Tony! Look out!" Ziva yelled and Tony dived out of he way as a smoke bomb exploded and filled the room with smoke. The unexpected move threw off Tony and Ziva while the explosion disoriented the two as men in full military gear and ski masks broke through the door.

"Go, go! Get down on the floor! Hands where I can see 'em! Get eyes on them. Stay down! Don't move! Keep looking at the floor! We're secure." The men barked as they moved around the room, aiming weapons at Ziva and Tony.

"Ziva? Is that you?" One of the men asked and Ziva managed to look up at the man as he shined a flashlight in her face.

"Damon?" She asked blindly, recognizing the voice. The man pulling off his ski mask.

"Wait a second, you know this guy?" Tony asked from his knees across the room.

"Corporal Damon Werth. USMC. Dishonorably discharged." Damon replied to jog Tony's memory.

"Oh yeah." Tony said moving his hands and reminding the man behind him that he hadn't been secured yet.

"Give me your hands!" The man demanded and grabbed a hold of Tony's arm and yanking it behind his back.

"What are you doing here?" Damon asked Ziva.

"This is Gibbs' living room." Ziva defended.

"What are you doing here?" Tony asked Damon. Around the corner Sam and Dean had both taken down a man each who had gone to search the rest of the house, unaware what was going on in the front room.

"Rescuing a kidnapped little girl and her mother." Damon stated, though he sounded confused now that he'd seen who was supposedly holding them captive.

"I'm sorry to tell you, but you're actually abducting them." Ziva told him and Damon looked dismayed at the revelation,

"Hey, Werth." One of the other masked men said to get Damon's attention.

"Cut the chitchat, just secure the prisoner." The masked man ordered but Damon shook his head.

"I can't. We're making a mistake." He plead, but the rest of the men weren't willing to listen.

"Bell's got a lotta money riding on this job. We're gonna finish it with or without..." The man broke off as Damon punched him in the face. Ziva sprung up and kicked one man while Damon threw his gun at the other to distract him before knocking him down with a kick of his own. At that point Sam and Dean emerged with their guns pointed at the men on the ground while both watched the unmasked man warily from the corner of their vision.

"I think we should hear them out. Don't you?" Damon asked rhetorically as he stood in the middle of the room and smiled over at Ziva. Ziva and Tony secured the two masked men on the floor before calling Gibbs. Sam and Dean each went and grabbed the men they had taken out and secured and dragged them into the main room before Dean went down to the basement to tell Leyla it was safe to come out.

"It was only ten minutes before several cars pulled up out front. Gibbs and Franks came running through the now broken door, Franks made a beeline for Leyla and Amira while Gibbs checked on his people.

"Everyone alright?" He asked as he gave them a once over.

"We're fine." Ziva assured. Gibbs nodded before looking to Dean.

"Well, for once it's not you two making a mess of my house." Gibbs commenting before really looking at the mess of broken glass and over turned furniture. Sam and Dean chuckled, both taking their turns to give Gibbs a handshake-hug.

Before long the masked men had been hauled up from the floor and taken into custody while Gibbs, Ziva and Tony worked out a plan with Damon to bring in his boss and soon were back out the door. Sam and Dean set to work cleaning up the broken glass and righting the furniture while Franks had taken Leyla and Amira upstairs. When they were done both guys knew they wouldn't be going to sleep any time soon with the residual adrenaline pumping through them. Dean went out to the impala and grabbed the bottle of Gibbs' favorite whiskey that Dean had stopped to get on the way into town. The boys took up residence at the kitchen table, quickly knocking back the first glass before drinking the second one slower.

A while later Franks came back down the stairs. He had been looking for a beer, but was more than happy to take a glass of whiskey instead. They didn't talk, each just nursing their glass. Sam gave up first heading to the guest room to try to get some sleep. Then Mike to check on the girls and try to get some sleep of his own. Dean was still awake when Gibbs finally came home in the wee hours of the morning. Gibbs poured himself a drink before joining Dean at the table.

"Think you got a little more than you were bargaining for?" Gibbs questioned dryly and Dean chuckled with a nod as he took another sip from his glass.

"We actually came here to escape some of the chaos." Dean said before emptying his glass and getting up to put it in the sink. Gibbs chuckled as he took a drink from his glass.

"You should know better. It's never quiet around here."

"Especially not with Mike around." Dean commented.

"Amen." Gibbs said, raising his glass a little.

"You get whoever's after those girls?" Dean asks as he sits back down. Gibbs sighs and takes another long drink from his glass before putting it down.

"Turns out it was Leyla's mother. She wanted her daughter back and thought Mike was keeping them from her. Hired a group to rescue them." Dean raised an eyebrow. Gibbs chuckled.

"I know, but nothing about Mike Franks can be simple." Dean nodded and then shook his head.

"Now it's all in Leyla's hands. It's up to her how she wants to deal with her mother." Dean nods.

"At least she's got a mother to reconcile with. I think Sam wishes he could do the same with our dad." Gibbs nodded.

"How long the two of you planning to stick around?" Gibbs asked and Dean shrugged.

"Had been planning on at least a couple days, but if you've got a house full Sam and I'll got out of your hair."

"Don't let my company run you off. You and Sam are always welcome here." Dean smiled.

"Yeah, I guess the door never locks?" Dean says with a smirk and Gibbs chuckles.

"I got the impression that Franks and your team don't appreciate it the same way Sam and I do."

"Nope, but they'll get over it, someday." Dean chuckled.

"I'm going to try to get some sleep." Dean said and Gibbs nodded as he finished his drink and stood up.

"See you in the morning." Dean walked into the living room, laid out on the couch and pulled the blanket off the back. The adrenaline had worn off long ago and now he was struggling to keep his eyes open. Dean was out before Gibbs left the kitchen.

When Dean woke he was aware of someone standing in front of him. More than aware of the normal people and the child also in the house, Dean doesn't do for a weapon but merely cracks an eye to see little Amira standing in front of him in the dim light of the morning.

"Sleepy?" Amira says with a tilt of her head that kinda reminds Dean of Castiel. Dean's not sure how to reply, but knows he has to.

"Sure." Dean slurs groggily. Amira smiles and crawls onto the couch with him and curls up into his side. Dean wasn't completely comfortable with what she was doing, but he wasn't going to tell her no. Within a couple minutes she was asleep and Dean shifted into a more comfortable position and managed to go back to sleep.

It was only a couple hours later that someone coming down the stairs woke Dean again. He kept his eyes shut, but listened intently as the foot steps walked closer. The steps stopped in the doorway to the living room followed by a quiet chuckle before some rustling and a click. With another chuckle the foot steps continued on to the kitchen. Dean gave it a couple minutes before gently maneuvering off the couch without waking the sleeping toddler and heading into the kitchen where he could smell coffee brewing.

Sam was already sitting at the table and Gibbs was standing at the stove. Sam looked up as Dean walked in and smirked as he pulled his mug up to hide his face. Dean raised an eyebrow and walked over to the coffee pot, grabbing a mug out of the cabinet above it and pouring himself a cup before taking a seat across the table from Sam. Dean took a long drink from his mug before catching his brother staring at him with a grin. Dean raised an eyebrow.

"Come on, dude, you're being creepy. Spit it out."

"Had a visitor last night, huh?" Sam asked and Dean rolled his eyes.

"I woke up to her standing in front of the couch staring at me. She wanted to lay with me and what was I supposed to tell her? No?" Dean said the last part like it was ridiculous making Sam smile more.

"Admit it Dean, you're just a big softy." Dean snorted.

"Because I didn't want to make a little girl cry?" Dean asks and Sam chuckles. Sam hadn't noticed that Gibbs had left the stove and was standing close to him till a hand connected with the back of his head. Dean cackled when Sam yelped and rubbed the back of his head.

"You saying you wouldn't have done the same thing?" Gibbs asked as he moved back to the stove. Sam shrugged and focused on his cup of coffee while Dean continued to chuckle.

As abruptly as the brothers had come into town they were gone. With one answered question it lead to hundreds more as Tony had finally found a loose string to pull in the complex tapestry that was Gibbs. Tony would occasionally ask about the brothers and was met with the usual evasive answers. In another situations with Franks, Tony had dug for answers only to receive a startling answer.

"Tony we all have those cases that stick with us more than others. Someday you'll find your Sam and Dean and wished you'd listened to Gibbs a little more when he tells you to remember rule 10." Tony had been confused with Franks citing rule 10: Never get personally involved in a case. Tony didn't understand what had been wrong with Gibbs personal involvement with the brothers till years later when the familiar faces appeared on news channels across the country. Two brothers crisscrossing the country on a murder/robbery rampage. Gibbs had only sighed when he'd seen the footage, didn't defend and didn't jump on the case. Tony and Ziva had chomped at the bit to see if there was something that could be done, but Gibbs had only brushed them off with a simple statement made.

"Rule 10."


End file.
